All of us have hobbies. Be it reading, listening to music, or exercising, there’s always a safe place we dedicate our time to whenever we have leisure time on our hands, or when we’re feeling down.

However, have you ever considered the fact that hobbies can actually contribute to more than just a pastime? They actually have far more significance and importance than what you might think.

Be it famous individuals, an ordinary person or high school students, there’s a variety of ways that people view their hobbies as a way for them to heal when they’re experiencing an emotional low. Some famous quotes include:

“Art is for healing ourselves. Everyone needs their own personal art to heal up their problems”, – Linda Ronstadt

“I find that writing is the silver lining of life, allowing me to transform vexing experiences into fresh story ideas…after much vexed venting”, -Laura Quinn

“It feels so good to vent out your anger through exercise, especially running. And when you gasp, when your legs feel numb, when you heart pounds, at that moment, you feel good because you feel nothing else”, – Sarvesh Jain

Additionally, I asked this question to some students as well, and this is what their answers were.

“When I hurt, and there were tough emotional lows I had to face, reading brought me back to life. Reading allowed me to get lost in the pages, forget my problems, and vent my anger onto the villains in both reality and fiction.”

“When life felt overwhelming, music became my own personal world. It took me away for a while, but always brought me back feeling more ready to face things.”

“Art allows me to express my emotions in a way that I don’t have to explode or deal with contained anger inside me. Art gives me a sense of calmness that nothing else usually can when I’m feeling bad.”

“Reading is quite literally my life. The first thing I’d do if I was sad is pick up a book and furiously flip through, contemplating my life.”

“The burn of exercise helps me work off the burn of an argument.”

So, how do hobbies truly help us? And let’s be very clear about this, hobbies do NOT include doing Math when you’re angry at your teenage daughter who didn’t do anything except insult your ability to do Math (looking at you, Mum).

A census was conducted across countries by Harvard Health, comparing happiness levels of individuals who had hobbies with those who didn’t. Compared with people who didn’t have hobbies, “those who did reported better health, more happiness, fewer symptoms of depression and higher life satisfaction”. The findings were similar across all countries.

Researchers also found that engaging in enjoyable activities during your downtime can lower your blood pressure and total cortisol levels. They also keep your brain sharp.

A consistent theme in all these findings (there are countless studies with results that correspond to this trend) is the fact that hobbies, undoubtedly have a crucial impact on mental, physical, and emotional health. Thinking about it on a personal level without all the scientific knowledge floating around your head, logically, hobbies have helped you feel better at some point. Well, it did so for me!

Hobbies are both a form of stress release and a contribution to cognitive function, by forcing you to learn something new as well!

Take an example of art. You start off with rudimentary sketches (like me still trying to learn how to draw a circle), then learn shading, then go on to painting, oil painting, gouache, and more. It’s a consistent learning curve, and along the way, you gain satisfaction from your successes, and determination to do better when you fail. That’s better sitting around and letting “brain rot take over”, as my parents so eloquently put it. Besides, in an academic sense, who knows, you might have found a career niche or a part-time job possibility. With this, where’s the time for you to experience sadness, wallow in anger or in general, mope? Your brain’s always kept busy.

In my situation, writing, exercising, reading, listening to music, and baking are ways I express my anger. From the former poems I have written so far, so many of them were written when I was in an unstable emotional state and frankly, just wanted to vent. The same goes for watching my cakes, whether burnt or delicious, turn into a creation in front of my eyes. Sometimes, I’d even use it as a peace offering between my parents, Em, and me.

In this way, I don’t have a place to suppress my anger. I’m not thinking about the same thing over and over again or holding a grudge, which prevents negative thoughts from being seeded into my brain. I’d be occupied with yelling at my chocolate pudding cake to bake properly, playing dissonant chords on my guitar, screaming along to Olivia Rodrigo, or yelling at Aelin to leave Dorian.

Exercising gives me so much pain, I’m too busy crying over it than crying over the argument I had. Core exercises really, really hurt when you’ve got a core as weak as a lamb that can’t bear the weight of its own wool.

That was too long a simile.

Anyways, its unanimous that hobbies have positive effects. Search it up on Google, yell at your friends to come up with a negative answer (which you really won’t get), annoy the scientists at Harvard, try it yourself, and then realise that you do need a hobby in your life.

It could be as lazy as me slouching on the couch and glaring at my mum while glaring at my book at the same time.

It could be as strange as my mum doing Math (WHO DOES THAT?)

It could be as tone-deaf as trying to play the most dissonant chords possible on an instrument.

My rendition of ‘logical’ was great, okay. It just sounded like a toad screeching, using the justification of creative expression.

Signing off…